Sonos Era 300 And 100 Smart Speakers Are Ready To Rock Starting At $249
California-based Sonos has long been known for their sound-centric wireless speaker solutions, from soundbars to portable speakers. Its flagship Sonos One smart speaker is now more than five years old and in need of a refresh. Well, the wait is over with two new models coming to the lineup—the Era 100 ($250) and Era 300 ($450).
The 100 is the direct successor to the Sonos One with a tweaked design that's slightly larger, but featuring new guts, chamber layout, and software. Fans of the Sonos One will be glad to hear that there are dedicated left-right tweeters for stereo audio, paired with a larger woofer for stronger bass. It looks like two colorways (black and white) will be offered, although we'd love to see more options (similar to its limited editions colors) available right away.
Want to take your speaker up a notch? Pair two Era 100s together for stereo coverage in large spaces or use two Era 100s as rear channels with a supported Sonos soundbar.
Looking almost like a squished Djembe drum placed on its side, the impressive-sounding Era 300 can also be used solo, paired with another 300, or as rear home theatre surround speakers. In fact, the Era 300 is the first Sonos speaker to be Dolby Atmos capable. When matched with a Sonos Arc/Beam soundbars and sub, you can enjoy some 7.1.4 goodness. The Era 300 houses six speakers in all—one upward-firing tweeter, two left-right tweeters, one center tweeter, and two side-facing woofers.
Sonos hasn't shared specific technical info like driver sizes, power, etc., but we do know that both speakers will support Amazon Alexa and Sonos Voice, with Google Assistant available at a later date. The Era 300 will also be able to play spatial audio through Amazon and Apple services. Both models will be available from March 28th.
